How to maintain your shoes: 11 Tips to care

Maintaining your shoes is essential to be comfortable, look excellent, and last your footwear for a long time. So you should know how to maintain your shoes properly.

Shoes are the most challenging part of any outfit. They move forward with your weight on the ground. So occasional care for your shoes will aid in extending the life and quality of your shoes.

In this guide, we’ll talk about how to maintain your shoes to look them best. You may follow the following tips for your shoes.

• Don’t stack shoes on top of each other, whether it’s a shoe rack or a space on the floor, as this can get dirt or marks on your shoes.
• Don’t put things on top of your footwear or put footwear on top of them because it may crush them.
• Try to arrange specific storage for special shoes. If you possess a pair of better dress shoes to wear with your better suit, preserve them in a box or bag to keep them dust free.
• Retain a soft shoe-toe shape by loosely packing with clean tissue. Or, utilize a cardboard, wood, or plastic form made for this purpose.

Polish thoroughly at regular intervals. For leather footwear, you’ll intend to polish them out of the box regularly. Even the most advanced, durable boots will be benefitted from a bit of polishing because it aids in repelling dirt and offers your footwear a new look. You can alternatively utilize a magic eraser to overlook applying a brush.

Suede footwear might be exquisite. A protective spray may aid in protecting against the elements, although a brush can contribute to keeping your suede looking as beautiful as new.

The footwear storage place can affect their longevity and durability. Indeed, temperature and humidity tend to affect the shoe materials in different ways.

For instance, high humidity and hot temperatures turn leather brittle and debilitate the glue used in specific shoes. Additionally, shoes in humid areas are more prone to mold growth and retain odors.

For colorful and bright footwear, you wish to put them out of direct sunlight, or you lead the risk of bleaching them.

You’ll find some storage Dos and Don’ts to know how to maintain your shoes here:

Do:

• Arrange footwear accordingly (whether by color, season, or popularity).
• Utilize a shoe tree to remain your shoes in shape.
• Cleanse shoes before placing them away to prevent dirt and grime from accumulating.
• Affix silica packs to aid in absorbing moisture.

Don’ts:

• Put your footwear outside.
• After use, store your footwear in a shoe cabinet.
• Carry on wearing shoes when wet.
• Utilize wire racks.
• Preserve your footwear in a confined space, for instance, a small plastic box without ventilation.

You always let your footwear dry during use. It permits the damping material of your shoes to restore and protect your feet.

Look at some best practices for drying your shoes below:

• Utilize a machine dryer if necessary. Always test the label to confirm machine drying is secure and apply the lowest temperature setting when you do so (usually air dry).
• Allow your shoes to air for up to 24 hours.
• Eliminate wearing the same shoes on consecutive days. Not only does it let them dry, but it also lets the rubber sole return to its original shape (frequently, it’s suggested for running shoes).
• Overlooking putting your shoes in direct sunlight, even if it implies drying them out.
• Utilize newspaper inside your footwear to remove moisture.

Can shoes dry out and rot?

Of course, it may happen. Indeed, footwear requires fresh air. Otherwise, glue can desiccate, fall apart, or lose its purpose. As a result, the heel breaks, and the inner lining can break. It can be called dry rot.

Storing shoes in airtight plastic boxes without fresh air for a long time can be a reason for dry rot and permanent damage to the footwear.

There’re examples where it’s okay to wash your footwear in the washing machine and where it is not, in other cases. You can launder only shoes made of canvas, nylon, cotton, or polyester in the machine if these become durable enough to endure the spin cycle.

Also, detergents won’t damage them. Shoes crafted from leather, suede, rubber, or vinyl do not go with the washing machine. In any case, follow your shoe care guide to find the best way to clean your shoes, or visit the manufacturer’s website.

What shoes are machine washable?

The machine washable shoes are:

• Nylon
• Cotton
• Polyester

Not washable in the machine:

• Leather
• Suede
• Rubber
• Vinyl

Adding rubber on the soles of your shoes can aid in preserving the life of your footwear if your soles get worn out or don’t already contain a better quality rubber outsole. Also, in the case of high heels, a rubber plastic can extend the life of the heel cap.

For leather shoes or dress shoes, a rubber sole can defend your leather soles from punctures and other damage. Besides, you can effortlessly replace the rubber sole. It implies that you can swap a new sole for a shabby one while saving the shoe’s upper half, which may still be in better condition.

Note: Many high-quality shoes bring already molded rubber soles.

Our feet tend to be sweaty a lot. Indeed, they contain more than 200,000 sweat glands, much compared to any other part of our body. Putting on socks aid in absorbing moisture from your feet without getting directly into the shoe materials.

It contributes to reducing odor and will reduce the necessity to wash your footwear regularly. Further, dry feet mean happy feet. Lessening excess moisture around your feet aids in resisting conditions such as a fungal toenail or athlete’s foot.

If you wish to wear shoes without socks, consider wearing open-toed shoes like Birkenstock, Mephisto, or Naot. Besides, go with sandals with breathable, moisture-wicking components like cork and correctly treated leather. In other ways, consider sockless shoes made for bare feet.

You take care of your skin the same way you’ll take care of your shoes. Cleanse, moisturize, and reiterate. You’ll find many different products you can utilize to aid in extending the life of your shoes.

For instance, shoe creams, wax polish, cream polish, and conditioner are all for shoes. All offer a different purpose, be it a conditioner to moisturize the leather or cream polish to give your footwear a beautiful shine. Luckily, the price of many of these products is between $10-20, and you can use them on occasion, so these should sustain a while.

Of course, it can be convenient enough to slip your shoes on and off. But it also harms the footwear. There is a better way, and that is to tie and untie your shoelaces every time. You don’t wear heels like this.

There are opportunities to use a shoe horn in slip-on and slip-off situations. In the case of regular shoes or even high heels, avoid taking off one shoe with the other because it crushes the heel or, for high heels, the heel cap.

A shoe tree means inserts for your footwear that aid in maintaining their shape when not being worn. It can prolong the shoe’s life and resists some of the problems that may happen if you preserve the footwear for a long time.

These devices, frequently crafted from wood or plastic, also lessen moisture in the shoe to increase airflow. Through extension, shoe trees can also aid in reducing odor (through shoe tree ingredients) and keep your favorite pair smelling fresh.

A true gentleman never forsakes excellent soles and always looks after them. Soles alter if they do not receive the care that they need.

Therefore, the more you care for them, the more they will last without damaging their shape and luster. You follow the above tips on how to maintain your shoes to enjoy better service from them.